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Lee Mason - Hang your head in shame

Referee review

2 February, 2011 9:00 28 comments
Lee Mason - Hang your head in shame

Mason: Favourite sweet – Toffee?

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Lee Mason – hang your head in shame. You are a professional, so why didn’t you act like one last night? Your dreadful performance made certain that that a game of football was hardly likely to break out. You never reacted to Jack being scythed down in the opening minutes, thus giving Everton a free ticket to carry on with their thuggish tactics. Shortly afterwards, Sagna received the same treatment. Then Rosicky. Just before half-time ‘One Song’ was clattered near the corner flag. He never re-appeared for the second half. Everton played like an evil Allardyce-fuelled Bolton of old.

The second half began in similar fashion. Jack was the victim of another awful assault within seconds of the re-start and Theo has left in a crumpled heap on more than one occasion. I have seen straight reds produced for less as this ref gave us no protection from the Everton thuggery. On a few occasions the ref did whistle for a foul, but this was spoilt as he could have played the advantage rule after we forced ourselves into a good attacking position, but chose not to.

Then there was Tim Howard’s ridiculous time wasting tactics. I know that he got booked for that near the end but by then the damage had already been done. However, it was hilarious to see him starting to sprint to take goal kicks when they were losing. Earlier on you could have gone for a pint and a pie, come back, sat down, and he was still fannying about taking a goal kick.

Then there was the “offside” incident which led the Everton goal. I am sure that this will be well reported elsewhere, but I just needed to get by thoughts on paper before I read any “expert” analysis. The ref seemed to realise that he had made a terrible mistake but didn’t have the bottle to overturn it. I have never seen a crowd at Highbury or Ashburton so incensed.

Thank goodness to finally see good prevail over evil with two quick goals giving us a huge win. I was so pleased to see that The Dwarf was at the end of the first goal, and I have never ever celebrated a nod in from a corner with such ferocity and jubilation.

Well done, The Arse – I am so proud of you, especially up against a bunch of cloggers and a totally incompetent referee.

(Ed’s note – I’ve already referenced this elsewhere, but as it’s so relevant, it’s explained here why getting anything from an Everton game reffed by Lee Mason was against all odds. Well played Arsenal!)

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28
comments

  1. StuartL

    Feb 03, 2011, 22:10 #1503

    For David Moyes to comment that Cesc should be red carded for something that he aparantly said to the ref, is surely questioning the ref's ability to do his job properly ?? Which is exactly what Cesc is supposed to have done. Double standands ?? Never mind Moyesey, I'm sure Alex will still buy you a drink for your efforts.

  2. Tony Waring

    Feb 03, 2011, 17:38 #1500

    Hi Gooners, I'm an Evertonian and proud of it. We may be tough but we ain't thugs. Now Fabregas could qualify for that description and should have been carded at least twice. As for Walcott, one moment he's writhing in agony and a second later he's flying down the wing...so how bad was the tackle ? Arteta was clogged down on several occasions by various Arsenal players and Arsene really needs to decide what he's going to say before making the statement that Fabregas did'nt address the ref in the tunnel but then again things said in the heat of the moment don't actually count ! So what is it Arsene, either he said something or he did'nt. According to David Moyes Febregas accused the ref of being bribed to award the goal ! As for the offside all I can say is that it's a good job it was'nt a female official or we would never hear the end of it. Saha was in an offside position but apparently the law says that if the ball comes off an opponent the "offside" does'nt count.

  3. Sammy Mooner

    Feb 03, 2011, 0:20 #1481

    Saha was offside and active when the ball was passed and he was stil f***ing offside and very active when it reached him. Which part of the offside and active doesn't apply Dave? He could only have been ruled not offside if it was a pass which was intercepted which it very obviously wasn't. I await Lee Mason's abject apology. I await the lino's relegation to parks football.

  4. Ian McCarthy

    Feb 02, 2011, 23:32 #1480

    Ex referee Dermot Gallagher explained on Sky Sports News that the goal was offside. He stated that if Arsenal had won back possession from Coleman's pass and then played it back to Chesney but Saha intercepted the ball and scored then it would be a goal. But because Koscielny attempted to intercept or clear the ball and it deflected to Saha he is still active and therefore offside. A similar incident happened at Sund v Chel on same night and it was ruled offside after the ball was played through by Chel player and deflected off Sund player's head.

  5. Yanto

    Feb 02, 2011, 22:25 #1479

    Refereeing must be one of the hardest jobs around - in that - even when a ref gets a decision bang smack on - he will still get tons of abuse from the fans that lose out because of said decision, however Lee Mason never has been nor will he ever be a ref of any worth - he is like the denilson of reffing only worse....Agree 100% that he totally bottled it - even though he knew he had made the wrong decision....shaeful - he should be stodd down and sent back to reffing sunday league....as for Moyes - well yet again another scousescum sore loser!...F*ck Off Moyes ....I notice he didn't mention how felaini took Theo out - Off The Ball..... WELL DONE ARSENAL!! :o)))))))))

  6. DogFace

    Feb 02, 2011, 20:26 #1478

    Thanks for the link-up mate!

  7. chrisy boy

    Feb 02, 2011, 18:12 #1477

    listening to talk sport on the way home from work today ( feb 2nd ) our friend Adrian Durham was doing his phone in and todays topic was guess what... Is cesc fit to be an Arsenal captain, just wondering if there any gooners out there who actually think Durham is anything other than a loud mouth Arsenal hating prick. If any of the editors of the gooner read this perhaps you could do a article on this idiot so more of us can phone him up and give the abuse he deserves.

  8. Arthur Rytus

    Feb 02, 2011, 17:37 #1475

    "Never seen a Highbury or Ashburton crowd so incensed". . . well I and 38000 others have and it was alot worse than last night. Remember Graham Poll's decisions in a home game v Newcastle 10 years or so ago. He was genuinely lucky to get out of N5 safely that night - so fired up were the fans. Four sides of the ground were continuosly singing "oh Graham Poll, he's a f . . . a. . . .!!!" Have never heard or seen it happen as seriously to a ref since.

  9. nugs

    Feb 02, 2011, 13:25 #1467

    the ref was a joke wouldnt expect the bin dippers to see it that way if youve ever been to goodison you would know what i mean, wonder how the scousers would have reacted if we had scored that offside goal. scouse mugs

  10. scouser

    Feb 02, 2011, 13:22 #1466

    are you forgetting that a certain arsenal player henri scored most of his goals for the club by using the offside rule to his advantage, how soon we forget

  11. Sweeney

    Feb 02, 2011, 12:32 #1465

    Typical biased gunner gobshite statement

  12. GILBO

    Feb 02, 2011, 12:19 #1464

    Not only does the ref not understand the offside rule, the Sky TV commentator, Tony Gale doesn't either, he huffed and puffed making all sorts of excuses, watched the replay and stated that the goal should stand, "what a plonker".

  13. GOONER4EVER

    Feb 02, 2011, 12:11 #1463

    VERY WELL SAID.ARSENAL SUFFER FROM VERY BAD DECISIONS OF SOME REFEREES,SUCH AS MASON,AND OTHERS ESPECIALLY MARTIN WEB

  14. Rob.

    Feb 02, 2011, 11:45 #1462

    I'm having some trouble getting head around this offside decision. By the same token then, can you be in an offside position when the ball was played but get yourself onside by the time a pass is completed. Surely this is the same ridiculous logic?

  15. HowardL

    Feb 02, 2011, 11:35 #1461

    Now THAT'S what I call 'Mental Strength'! And of course Saha's goal was yards offside - all the Sky comentators and Alan Curbishley agreed

  16. DavetheRave

    Feb 02, 2011, 11:25 #1460

    REf:1714 It WAS offside because it is a deflection NOT a pass back. If the goal keeper had picked the ball up from the deflection the ref would NOT have called it a pass back. So why was this called a pass back?

  17. Mick

    Feb 02, 2011, 11:24 #1459

    get over it is right, what sort of a tool are you , do you have tea with theo and jack you ponse , see wenger say nothing again look in the mirror pal how many arsenal players were booked (ref got them wrong) they were for nothing and Cesc and his abuse of the ref cope on ,im sure your muppet keeper would do the same so as said in a post grow a pair

  18. Nick

    Feb 02, 2011, 11:17 #1457

    Saha became active when he ran towards the goal as soon as the ball was played before koselny touched it and his iterpretation of the advantage rule was shaky at best the ref was poor and david moyes was like a schoolboy telling tales to the teacher

  19. Bob Down

    Feb 02, 2011, 11:10 #1456

    Brilliant, briliant result against the odds! maybe the FA/Premier league are scared we might actually win this league!?!

  20. john

    Feb 02, 2011, 11:02 #1454

    what game were you watching,the worst tackle of the game was fabregas on arteta and in the last 10 mins most arsenal players were trying to con the ref,eg wallcott.

  21. MattC

    Feb 02, 2011, 10:56 #1453

    Regarding that link, perhaps someone could enlighten me as to how refs are allocated, and who decided that a referee who consitently favours Everton, and consistently penalises Arsenal would be “randomly” allocated to this match. Smells a bit like the Serie A scandal? Read this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2006/jul/25/newsstory.sport8

  22. chris dee

    Feb 02, 2011, 10:53 #1452

    Spot on! And David Moyes should also shut his gob about Cesc especially as he has Phil Neville as captain,a player brought up in the Alex Ferguson school of surrounding the ref, bending every rule,questioning every refereeing decision and taking out opponents with thuggish tackles. But have you heard the daily anti Cesc anti Arsenal bile being spouted on Talk Sport.First by Alan Brazil, now by Mike Parry and get ready for the biggest culprit,a so called 'presenter' who has made his living slagging off Arsenal cause he's got no other talent,Adrian Durham and his giggling little lap dog Darren Gough who likes nothing better than making snidey little remarks about the club.

  23. Goonersarewinkers

    Feb 02, 2011, 10:53 #1451

    You gang of idiots! The goal was offside, thugish tactics? Fabregas stamping down Arteta's leg in teh first half after he was skinned? Djouroo going down, Arsenal play on, then start screaming for teh game to be stopped when Everton have the ball? Arsenal are probably one of my favourite teams to watch, although you cant half cry, Wenger is genious and yet an absolute tosser at the same time, stop crying an play football.

  24. StevieG ooner

    Feb 02, 2011, 10:53 #1450

    " Jack was the victim of another awful assault within seconds of the re-start and Theo has left in a crumpled heap on more than one occasion." And yet David Moyes has the nerve to suggest Cesc should have been sent off for foul language! I'm against players cursing in an over the top manner but when you play against CHEATS it's all easily forgiven. Time wasting, diving and chopping the opposition down (as opposed to tough tackling) is CHEATING. Any team that does it is wrong even if they were Arsenal FC. Jose Mourinho's teams do well in applying such bully boy tactics.

  25. good grief

    Feb 02, 2011, 10:49 #1449

    'good previaled over evil' 'thuggish tactic's'??? Funny, the BBC commentary described the first 25 mintues as a 'lets see who can kick Arteta competition'

  26. Dave

    Feb 02, 2011, 10:49 #1447

    Hi For Mason's treatment of the Everton players, when they clearly came out to try to injure any Arsenal player they can, I think he has to clearly hang his head in shame. However, for the goal, I think Sepp Blatter and his gang of Rouble-grabbing cronies also need to hang their head - because under the interpretation of the rules, Saha was on-side. He was offside and inactive when the ball was played through, and is Koscielny had not played it he would have become offside and active. However, because Koscielny touched it, it is then deemed as a passback, and he is onside. Back in the day, he would have been offside, and that be done. Who said progress is good?

  27. Smidger

    Feb 02, 2011, 10:48 #1446

    I see you conveniently overlook Fabregas raking his studs down Artetas achilles, his constant moaning and head shaking at the referee, Arsenal players throwing themselves to the floor every 5 seconds, a la Chelsea, its a mans game get a grip and grow some. As for the offside goal the referee can only act on the advice from his linesman, he had some doubt, he referred, I guess was told it was good so gave the goal, hardly Masons fault. Bottom line, Arsenal deserved the win based on their second half performance, no need for all the theatrics though, your players are better than that and lose credability by acting in this way.

  28. JJ

    Feb 02, 2011, 10:40 #1445

    Fozzy, get over it. We won. Ref was poor but we can hardly talk about bad tackles when 3 or 4 of ours went unpunished. Cesc's on Arteta after about 10 mins had me cringing to look as I would have been screaming for a red if it was the other way around. I for one am getting fed up with this attitude some gooners have that we don't dish it out and all these dirty teams try and kick us off the park. Grow a pair Fozzy, we throw in some "thuggery" tackles as well.